Embroidey is live, passion and addiction.

Concept of sewing is incomplete without thread and needle. First thing that comes in mind at the name of sewing is needle. There are diverse kinds of needles that are utilized while sewing.

Hand Sewing Needles

These needles are highly necessary in completing any sewing project. Always select the hand sewing needle carefully because right selection doesn’t damage fabric.

Description: Complete range of sewing needles is available in the market and they vary in size and shape. Needle guides the thread when you are sewing with hands.

Use: The mostly used hand sewing needles are known as sharps. They have the medium length with a round eye. They are good with any fabric and can be used with ease. There are also needles with other shapes but they are not used very commonly. You will also find curved needles; these needles are utilized for hand sewing upholstery which cannot be sewed with the help of a straight needle. The fabric which is heavy, mainly thick needle is used for them.

How to check if the needle is up to your mark? When you are hand sewing and not sure whether needle size is appropriate or not, always try it on the seam. This way, you will know if needle can damage the fabric.

Expense: Hand Sewing needles don’t cost a lot. They are very inexpensive and easily available sewing notion. When you are working on a very delicate fabric, then don’t go for low quality needle at that time, instead select a brand so your fabric remains protected.

Sewing Machine Needle:

Sewing machine needles have diverse sizes and these sizes are highly necessary to make the right choice and it may also solve the problems associated with the sewing machines.

Sewing machine needles are tagged with the numbers and for the beginners, these numbers can be confusing. Mainly, there are two kinds of labeling system for sewing machine needles: American and European.
American labeling system: The sewing machine needles in this system have the number from 8 to 19. Number 8 means the finest needle and 19 means the heavy needle.
European labeling system: In this system, the numbers of the needles vary from 60 to 120. Number 60 is assigned to the finest needle and number 120 assigned to the thickest.

For fine and thin fabric, fine needle is used as the thick needle will leave holes in the fabric. For heavy fabric, thick needles are used as thin needle may bend or break when used on these fabrics. Penetration of needle in the fabric is the matter of main concern here.
Like Brother dz1234 and other sewing machines, many support almost all kinds of sewing machine needles. Testing the fabric and needle combination is always a good option before starting the project. Always check on the scrap so you can know which needle size suits the best and you can also select the thread length this way. The sizes offered like this 120/19, 80/12 etc. But you can also get them like this 19/120, 12/80 etc. Arrangement doesn’t matter in this case.

Embroidery is the vast term; there are diverse kinds of embroidery. Here given are the types of embroidery that are most commonly used and considered very important. Every person who wants to learn embroidery must learn them.

Surface Embroidery:

The first in the list is surface embroidery and the definition of this term is as same as the name indicated – it is the embroidery done on the surface of the cloth. There are diverse kinds of embroidery stitches that we can call as surface embroidery.

It is said that this form of embroidery is around since the first stitch was made by the man. Nobody can say that they are the founder of this style. On the other hand, cutwork, drawn thread, and pulled thread are made through fibers to make a stitch. The kinds of surface embroidery are redwork, crewel, cross stitch etc. It is also renowned as Freestyle Embroidery.

Redwork:

This is the term that covers any embroidery that is made by using red thread on the natural colored or white fabric mainly muslin. In cross stitches and surface embroidery stitches, it is the most commonly used embroidery. In folk embroidery, it has been used mainly. It became famous from 1880 to 1900s when the stable dyes were made in Turkey.

The color number 321 in DMC floss is highly loved color that is being used for Redwork. The same redwork patterns can be made by using blue threads on the white colored fabric; these patterns are then called as Bluework. Either the embroidery work done by machine or by hands, there is the need of loads of hard work and concentration.

Candlewick Embroidery:

Also called as colonial knotting, it is the kind of embroidery in which designs of whitework are made by using Colonial knots and they are arranged in intricate patterns. In Colonial America this work was very renowned as it is rustic style in more. In this kind of embroidery, heavy cotton threads are being used.

It was mainly used to make clothing, bedcovers and curtains in the 1600 and 1700 and done with the use of actual unwaxed candle wick thread and made on cotton or linen fabric.

Cross Stitch:

It is kind of the embroidery in which two diagonally-worked stitches make “x” on the fabric. This embroidery is done on special Aida fabric, and made by taking one square or mainly counted as the two thread method when the fabric is even weaved.

In the embroidery transfer like hot iron and pre-stamped, surface embroidery stitch can also be used. This embroidery can be done singly or in the form of horizontal and vertical rows. When fine details are the requirement of the embroidery, then partial cross stitches are also being used. Anyone who is new in this field and wants to try cross stitch, he or she must start with the Daisy Chain as it is the design that is perfect for the beginners and easy to learn.

Before you start stitching, there are few things that you keep in your mind.

• On your first attempt to use sewing machine, make sure to choose a simple fabric instead of hard one. Flannel and Denim can be hard fabric for the first attempt because on piling them together their layer become too thick.

• While stitching, keep your fabric under the needle of your machine. Keep the cloth on the machine’s left instead of right to avoid messy stitches.

• The lever is present either behind or at the side of the machine’s needle; it is used to assemble the presser foot. While the presser foot down, you can tug gently the fabric, it gives a machine pretty firm grip to it.

• To avoid the wrong stitching pattern on your fabric, press foot pedal slowly and gently. If you will press it too hard it will move fast and might become hard for you to handle and tear off your cloth.

• In case of knee bar, instead of foot pedal use your knee to push it to the right.

• If you want to handle your sewing pattern from hands, you can assemble balance wheel on your machine’s right side. It will help to steer the needle in your desired direction. You can sew straight or in curve easily with hands. It can make the learning process even more easy and creative.

• Keep extra care about the fact that never pull or force the fabric while it is under the needle to prevent it from tearing off or ruining. Needle can also break if you pull it harder and bobbin can clog up in stitches.

• If you are not happy with the speed of sewing, press your foot pedal harder or if possible buy a faster machine or adjust the stitch length.

• Always use provided manual to adjust the setting of sewing patterns on your sewing machine. Sewing machine can help you to get the sewing pattern of your desire. Make sure to keep the needle up while setting the stitching pattern to avoid tearing of fabric.

• With the help of hand wheel adjust the needle on machine’s highest point so fabric can be removed easily. Check the position of needle if thread pulls back the fabric. Tips about thread can be found here.

• Cut out the thread with a sharp cutter or scissor when you are done with your stitching. Leave a little thread tail to re-start the stitching process.

• From near the edge, take right sides of the fabric and pin them together. Keep an eye on the parts of the fabric which you want outside after it get sew together. In printed clothes, it is usually easy to tell the difference between the inside and outside.

• Pin the lines perpendicularly where the seam will go. It will help you to sew right on top the pins without harming the fabric, machine or pins. Still it’s best to remove pins before stitches reach them.

• To sew the sharp corner, lower the needle so it can easily grip the fabric and raise the presser foot. Keep the needle down while you are rotating the cloth in your desired position. When you are satisfied with your new fabric position, lower the presser foot and re-start your sewing.

For more tips I would recommend this http://www.howcast.com/videos/454048-Top-5-Tips-for-Sewing-a-Dress-Sewing-Lessons, Or here is the video of machine which can help implementing these tips for sewing, so you not get lost.

Metallic threads although look great but they can be really frustrating for embroider. But using them correctly will increase the look of your design too many folds. Here given are some tips and tricks that will help you make great design with metallic thread.

1. Go for the Quality Thread:

It is the first rule of embroidery that no matter which kind of thread you are selecting, quality is the most important need. The thread should not break easily and must not be rough. Decorative threads are usually less strong than the normal threads but they should not be broken easily. Old thread tends to break with ease.

2. Maintain the thread quality afterwards too

Keep the thread in the environment that is heat, dust and light free. Avoid using any sticky tapes to store the thread. With time, thread ages and becomes brittle – to prevent this take special storage care. Don’t through all threads in one container where they all mingle up. Handle them with care.

3. Go for the Right Needle:

Like Brother pe770, many embroidery machines support various kinds of needle. In the machine specially, needle plays a great role in making your design prefect. The right size of the needle is very important. It should carry the thread through the fabric without making any damage. Smaller needle doesn’t damage the fabric and enhances accuracy. Going for the metallic needle is the bad option as it causes thread breakage.

4. Increase thread delivery:

The embroidery threads have the tendency to twist more than the normal thread. When the thread twist it will stuck in the tension disk that will lead to the thread breakage. Best way to prevent this is by extending the thread path. Also go for the threads that have larger spools because they will allow smoother delivery.

5. Slow down the machine’s speed:

Machines have the ability to stitch at 1000 or above stitches in a minute. This increase speed also comes with increased thread tension and friction – these two lead to heat. This in turn augments thread break. Running machine at 600 – 750 stitches per minute is a great choice here.

6. Make wise design selection

Test your designs first by using the thread. If you have too much metallic thread then it may overpower the design. There are some threads that don’t suit well for tighter densities. If your thread is coarser than the design you selected, then you may get this trouble. Lace designs mostly have short stitches. When you go for design like these, you need to be very selective in choosing the metallic thread. Be wise in you selection.

7. Quality of the Fabric matters

All your embroidery is going on the fabric and its quality and color matters a lot. Go for the fabric that is not very tough or soft because in embroidery the impression is made through the fabric. If it is very tightly weaved than it will be hard to make the design you have selected and if it is very loose, the design will find it hard to stay on the place.